New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-02-06
BROWNING'S NEW BOOK.
AN OPTIMISTIC POET.

PARIEYINGs WITH CERTAIN PEOPLE or ,n am
de Made 7iilc Daniel Barto CisOPhser .r smaT re-
George Buob Doiingon Francis rnr,sf NV Dao
iosas bel wesn Apollo and the Fate, cS rs% sy
apother between John fust ano ~ u,s Honchton
ROBERT BROWNING 16Ino, PIP Is" ho"H"'o''
k,inlin & Co. =,
Notbipp strikes the reader more forcibly in MI
prowning's new book than the buoyancy and hope
Yulness with which the veteran surveys the world
IL is impossible not to contrast him with th'V
other great roet his senior by only TWO years
who has just uttered despairiDg plant over MS
lost illusions. Browning is not less at odds IMAM
TennysOn with sceptical and materlalis'ic uen
denotes he is indeed the moro spiritual PoeO VI
the two but for him there is melancholy IN thc
retrospect OF the last half century no hiscou's.e
mcnt in the outlook lie enters his scVen'y'ii,'"
oor with n confidence ms JOYOUS and Astounding
as that of youth Faith in God, falth IN 1he "''e
ordering of the universe, faith in the 1h'cnisem'
coordipa,ion Of good and eviLand faith In inc CON
tjnuous progress of humanity are inc ciiici poN''
of the jocund creed to which he gives voice. i'''
are expressed with unusual force ana ciV"rn','
in nearly all the nine pieces included III o'h' W.T.
,,uo rocu,rinc so often as to give uniform CHAR
acter. il not distinct purpose, to the whoic COZ
lection and they inspire some noble ouVours's VI
song which may possibly count with inc authors
brightest titles to poetic rank. The moments oi
lyric rapture to be sure are few; but on the oVher
hand the intricate and farreachins intellectual
pnocesscs in which the poet-reasoner delights arc
almost always suffused with the imaginative glow
md lofty thought strides from height to height
with easy and imposing movement. Compared
with "Ferishtah's Fancies' and some other late
works Of Browning, the new book shows clear
gain In the faculty Of artistic expression, WHO IL
certainly indicates decline in vigor ana lei1hi'9
of ideas There is no sign that the time VIII ever
come when Mr.. Browning's admirers will wish MN.
for the sake of his fame to stop wlitlnS'
II must not be supposed. however. from wi"o we
have said that "parleyings with certain leopio
Is easy reading. 1t is one of the hordesu poo>s III
the literature of our time. The involuton OF
parentheses the daring elipses ard inc o'her CO
ccptricties of construction in which Browning has
u,ways INDUCED are employed with his usual Tree
dom but not in any novel excess. Those VINO are
accustomed TO his style can reduce the sentences
60 order by applying just that close, Slow "elioe
ate attention which they well know must be pa'n
to this most exacting of writers. But the comli''
cations Of his thought are not so readily resolved
To follow the train of ideas needs mob only pa
tience and leisure but sometimes considerable III
cenuity. We tangled amidst dashes ana if'-
ments Of phrase and bits of dialcctic, when sud
denly the new thought starts OIL fresh anu clear'
but we cannot tell how we got TO IL. NOW anu
n puzzled wonderment to find our starting-polnt
Rarely indeed has Browning left so much OF his
sequence of ideas to be OWNED by the reader as In
certain of these "Parleyngs" He has admirers
who write boo<s to explain that he is not obscure
The student Of "parleyings' can hardly thihR oil
them without LAUGHING. Yet of how httle mo-
ment after all seem the difficulties OF The poet s
elliptical method how soon we forSct the arlis'ic
fault when we have penetrated the darkness ana
can watch the action of that subtle and ingenious
mind When we call the movement OF his thoushl
easy we DO not that every step Is d1stlneubh-
able. but that the rough. halt1ng galt Is helc
comparative ely rare, or at least Is niue observed
In the majestic force Of the advance we arc
conscious that the divine spirit OF poetry moves
in these measures Tera incessu patel ded IL
is significant fact that in his extreme age Brown
in has apparently cast aside some of that rugged
ness often amounting to the grotesque, which hai
become mannerism, and has given his verse a
little more grace of form without robbing 1t of
particle of strength The opening stanzas of
,@Apollo and the Fatos' remind us Of the musical
Dow of few of his early lyrics:
APOLLO From A6orG)
Flame at nv football, Parnassus! Apollo,
Burns Thence. down to the depths-dread hollow
Haunt OF the Dire Ones. Haste! They wreak
Wrath on Admetus whose respite seek
THE TATEs. tBcor. DdEhtSS)
Draconwse couchci in the womb OF orr Mother,
Coiled at thy nourishing hearts cor" Night
Dominant breads. we, one by the o.
Deal to each mortal his dole OF l.
On earth-the upper the glad. tho at
This strain, however is soon iaierrupted by
r,lder notes. and though lapses in , scnsuous mel
ody occur again and again they never pro
longed. Tic Prologue has a decided metrical
swing, often touch of classical elegance. How
pure for example, is the style of this exclamation
of the Fates:
Back TO thy blest EARTH prying Apolo
shaft upon shaft transpieree with my beams
Earth to the centre spare but this hollow
Hewed out OF Nights heart where mystery seems
Viewed from days malice wake earth from her dreams!
But when Apollo has given the three sisters
wine to drink, and they join hands in a whir in
spircd by the cup this is the harsh openinG of their
chorus, the second line Of which is not verse at
sll:
Ouashed be our quarrel sOurly and smingy,
Bare and gowncd; bleached limbs and Drowned,
Drive we dance, three and one, reconciliugly,
Thanks 10 the cup where dissension'is drowned,
Defeat proves triumphant and slavery crowned.
The argument of the Prologue is Apollos visit to
the Fates to beg the life Of Admetus. He is an
swered that life is on evil he should ask death
for those he loves but at last the Fates avow
the truth, that good and evil are not to be de-
fined, the worst and the best change hues of a
sudden, mans life mtst be lived through and
through not in portions. Here have the key
note of most of the book-the relation of evil to
good the duty of man TO
Accept good with bad till unscemy debate
Turns cOncord-despar, acquesccnce i'll fate.
The method Of the "Parlcyings" is
D reversal of that pursued in the dramatic
monologues which constitute the most character
istic portions of Brownings previous work. In
the monologues historical or fictitious peIsonages
are represented speaking to the poet or an imagi-
nary listener, and revealing themselves not with
the cIalde frank ness of solilnnur In .,.Li.L IL